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Wow. This week is only half-over, and it’s still going to be fun before we’re all done. I’m fighting off the panic impulse, just because it’s stupid to panic over something that will take thirty minutes at most to finish. I am not the Barbie over the boiling water because of this. I have all day tomorrow to fix it. So there. Onward to the news.

Power has been restored to the areas affected by a blackout occurring when a nuclear power plant shut down automatically. Officially, there were no safety concerns for the power plant, but the fluctuation of the power grid triggered an automatic shutdown process.

In the matter of Iraq, the Republicans in Congress are permitting a bill to cut Iraq war funding to advance, believing it will be an excellent opportunity to speak about the wonders of Iraq and debate the issue. Of course, they also know that the White House will veto the bill, and no override vote would ever succeed. So rather than doing actual work, the Republicans are planning on some grandstanding. Despite the myth of the surge.

Elsewhere in the world, a report from the U.N. Human Rights Council says that Palestinian attacks are an inevitable consequence of Israeli occupation. The attacks are still bad, but it looks like the UN is ready to advance the idea of a two-state solution and say that Israel is behaving like an occupying force. This has Israel rather hot under the collar.

A small earthquake struck the United Kingdom. Damage was mostly due to things not built for earthquakes showing they were not built for earthquakes. No reported deaths or serious injuries.

Walter E. Williams would like the world to do less in giving African governments more money, and as such, for the world to reduce government-to-government aid to the countries where the governments are corrupted. Aid to the people that will help them out, I would think, is still perfectly good. Which might mean, say, paying more to the UN World Food Programme, maybe? Dr. Williams suggests that lowered trade barriers would help to get money to those Africans that really need it.

Domestically, with regard to the general election, yet more on how Senator Obama hates America. Ben Shapiro thinks that the Seantor's "change" message is a weakness, because it implies he hates America the way it is. For most of the people who would be voting for the Senator, they’re not too fond of the way the country is now themselves, and especially not so after eight years of the Bush administration. The Washington Times is doing its part to try and create no confidence in the Senator’s inexperience by claiming that military commanders are unsure about his experience, with the implication that the Senator would leave the country vulnerable to more attacks if elected. The Tennessee Republican Party climbs on, stating that they believe Israel's future is in danger if Barack Obama is elected. Looks like the line from the Republican Party will be “Elect our guy, he’s served, he’ll continue the fight, and we’ll be safe! Honest!”

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft will be testifying before Congress about a no-bid contract his firm acquired from the Justice Department. Amazing how those contracts seem to find themselves into the hands of those who helped or served this administration.

The White House continues to try and spin things so that we should believe warrantless wiretapping is a good thing for us. The White House spokesperson admits to not being a lawyer, and dodges more questions about why Mr. Bush is unwilling to accept an extension bill if it’s so important to him, while claiming his opponents are playing politics. Instead, more fearmongering and attempts to convince the populace that warrants are unnecessary.

Mike Huckabee continues to be consistent on his antichoice, antifamily positions, this time lending his support to a proposed Colorado state constitution amendment that would define life as beginning at conception and extend all the associated protections to that fertilized egg. No doubt he would like to have Michelle Malkin's commentary on a woman who committed suicide out of regret from her abortion to help him convince the populace that most women who have abortions regret them. Perhaps they can travel in the "No Sex Policy" van, which is festooned with quite a few unnecessary quotation marks.

Cal Thomas pins the blame for the credit crunch squarely on the populace that wants more than they can afford. Yes, people spending too much are partially to blame for the problem. But there’s also the people who gave them the credit, despite probably having a good idea that some of these people were big credit risks. On the other side of the spectrum, Bank of America has apparently instituted caps on how much someone can debit from their accounts per day. This was not necessarily disclosed until someone tried to buy a big-ticket item which would have put them over the limit. For others, banks are instruments for oppression of the lower classes, apparently deserving of bricks and notes with bold proclamations.

A Darwin Award should be sent to Markus Groh, who died when sharks baited with chum savaged him. The shark-diving company he paid did not use steel cages for protection of the divers, and they baited the water with blood. At some point, someone was going to get hurt, and now it happened. I suspect the proprietor of that establishment will not be doing business very soon. Not quite as deadly, but also potentially dangerous, Senator Larry Craig's office is looking for interns. There’s probably a Bill Clinton joke here for those that want to make it, or avoid making one about a “wide stance”.

A federal judge has permitted lawsuits against NBC's "To Catch A Predator" program to proceed, permitting a jury to hear whether the program’s enticement, confrontation, and arrest of would-be child molesters crosses a line from journalism into law enforcement. Besides, it seems like every other day there’s another pedophile clergyman or something of the like. There’s enough in the reporting aspect to keep someone interested solely in sex stories in business. Seriously.

After all of that stuff going wrong, I have to give Michael Medved praise - he understands that declaring Islam to be the enemy of the United States is a stupid, futile, very foolish decision that will lead to an endless war. Considering the progress of the current unending war, I think Medved understands that continuing that process, changing out “terrorism” for “Islam” will only result in failure and doom. Not to mention, in Turkey, a reinterpretation of the Hadith will help to create a more modern, less violent Islam. So by not declaring a war on Islam, we can give the more tolerant branches a chance to take root and become the norm.

Also worth keeping an eye on is the description of The Ultimate Project, a 1000-year project that intends to build a big spaceship and send it out into the cosmos to a habitable world nearby. Or other stars that can have colonies built.

Not that it will necessarily help the product, on the 26th of February, every Starbucks closed for three hours to retrain the staff on how to make coffee. So for those who are addicted to their product, has there been any improvement?

Besides, we’d rather go about drinking Super Mario Brothers-themed alcoholic drinks, really. How many times will you have the opportunity to say that you drank enough of Princess Peach to get hammered?

Svalbard's seed vault is ready, and is also attempting to be a comprehensive collection of the world's seed crops . In the freezing temperature, the seeds are unlikely to grow, which is good from a refrigeration standpoint, but probably pretty bad if we ever need to access it and there’s not sufficient tech to spread the seeds where they need to go.

Last for tonight, to give us food for thought, Wired looks at why free is the new wave of business. It’s good to be a consumer, with so much there for free, but remember that those sandwiches and chicken wings came at the cost of a pint. If that’s not your thing, then maybe some analysis on maze design will lead you to a good and thoughtful end. I will be studying from the insides of my eyelids.
Depth: 2

Date: 2008-02-28 09:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] annaonthemoon.livejournal.com
The use of the word "tonight" clues me in -- it's quite possible the people he was on the phone with had no idea what to do beyond repeating to him that he was over his daily limit and couldn't make the purchase. Many banks have their real CS folk leave around 5 or 6pm, and then the people that are in on the late/overnight shift simply don't know what to do. They're handed scripts basically, and told to read off the script if a problem comes up. Especially when the bank outsources overseas.

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silveradept: A kodama with a trombone. The trombone is playing music, even though it is held in a rest position (Default)
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